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A US man who tried to cut his own arm off after it got trapped under a furnace said he asked himself "what MacGyver would do" before the grisly amputation.

Connecticut man Jonathan Metz used a hacksaw to partially cut off his arm while trapped in his own basement for two days last week, US media report.

The 31-year-old told reporters after being released from hospital yesterday that he believed he needed to think like TV action hero MacGyver in order to free himself.

In the 1980s series MacGyver, the main character would use everyday objects to engineer daring escapes from various predicaments.

"I thought there must be some other way, so I kind of started looking around my surroundings again — maybe there was something I missed," he told reporters.

"You know, what would MacGyver do if he were here?"

After failed attempts to pull his arm free by smearing it with grease, Mr Metz eventually decided to saw off his arm after smelling rotten flesh.

The pain and blood loss prevented Mr Metz from making a complete amputation to free himself, but doctors said the amateur surgery likely prevented an infection spreading from his arm into his body.

Firefighters eventually freed Mr Metz after a friend reported him missing last Wednesday.

His arm had initially got caught when he reached underneath the furnace to retrieve a dropped brush.